The opposition New Patriotic Party will suffer collateral damage for its silence on a sexist comment by Kennedy Agyapong, its Member of Parliament for Assin Central, that the chairperson of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Charlotte Osei, landed the job after offering sex, Deputy Minister for the Interior Mr James Agalga has said.

Mr Agalga believes the comment had the propensity of courting disaffection for the NPP in the eyes of many discerning Ghanaians and voters as the country heads to the polls at the end of the year.

There has been widespread condemnation from individuals and groups including the Ark Foundation, the Media Foundation for West Africa, the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hanna Tetteh, Minister of Gender, Children, and Social Protection Nana Oye Lithur among others.

Speaking on Multi TV’s news analysis programme Newsfile on Saturday July 2, Mr Agalga said: “So far, I have checked and it appears there is some deafening silence on the part of the NPP as an entity [and] that for me is worrying…they [NPP] may suffer some collateral damage as a result of the misconduct of Kennedy Agyapong.”

He added: “When others did things, which were not close to the kind of misconduct that has now been labelled against Kennedy Agyapong … [the party in] the final analysis suspended its national chairman, general secretary, [and] 1st vice chair.

“So, the NPP should invoke its own disciplinary machinery. Is it that the NPP applies the rules in a selective manner?"